The Service Of Clouds

Nov 24, 2025 6:09 PM

Author:Susan Hill

At the far end of the long white gallery is a painting of a woman, in pale flowing clothes and lying on a sofa beside an open window. The muslin curtains billow out towards her like clouds. There is a touch of brilliant red, the ribbon on her hat. The rest is white, cream, palest grey. It is a painting which leads Flora on, beckoning her away from her childhood, her complaining, clinging mother, pert younger sister, and the confines of a small community, to a proud and self-reliant future. But later, this image is to prove the catalyst for the most signicant event in her life. Isolation, separation, solitude, betrayal. The shocks of life. The consolations and the beauty of death. A few piercing moments of absolute joy and perfect understanding. THE SERVICE OF CLOUDS is about these things, and also about love, loyalty, friendship, growing up and growing old.

Reviews

A beautiful and haunting novel about love, loss and the complexity of the human spirit. With delicacy and understanding, Hill offers a thoughtful portrayal, creating sensitive visions of the courage with which her characters face their existence

—— Independent on Sunday

For nearly twenty years now, Anne Rice has been telling stories that share secrets - secrets of life and death, of sex and the soul, of monsters and humans

—— Mikal Gilmore , Rolling Stone

The action is tight and well-plotted, the dialogue is punchy, and the whole thing rolls along so nicely

—— Guardian

A lively thriller of sexual politics and morality. Elton's best book yet

—— Elle

Addictive

—— Metro

Praise for Lisa Jewell

—— -

Terrific

—— Sunday Times

The best romantic comedy we've read in ages

—— Company

Tackles serious issues with humour - proving that chick-lit can be intelligent, interesting and huge fun

—— Sunday Express

A triumph

—— Hello

Top marks. Fantastic

—— Heat

Lovely

—— Daily Telegraph

Moving and intelligent

—— Independent

Magnetic, unpretentious and bursting with one-liners

—— Cosmopolitan

Jewell's readability and emotional intelligence make her the cream of pop fiction

—— Glamour

Fans of chick-lit will understand when I say that this is a book you simply disappear into

—— Sunday Telegraph

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